Timid Pastures
by The Endless Hourglass
Summary: "The strongest people are not those who show strength in front of us, but those who win battles we know nothing about."
1. Chapter 1

**I ****know, I know: I've already got ****three**** other FanFictions I really should be working on before this, but I can't help myself. **

**This is my new story, ****_Timid Pastures_****, and needless to say I'm in loooove with the title *o*. It's just so awesome, no? :D**

**Anyways, some little facts about this… **

**—Remember wayyyyy back in Power of Three: Outcast, when all those rogues (Flick, Flora, Twist, Stripes being the only ones we know) attacked the Tribe of Rushing Water? Welp, I got this idea while watching a YouTube video and playing some Minecraft (of all things, right?) and here this little babeh ish. -;**

**—So, basically the cat mainly focused on in this story is good ol' Flora. I've always been interested with her, and seeing as there is already a story about Twist (****_Sidestep _****by Unknown Soldier Shadow; you should all go read it, because it's super awesome and Shadow can definitely surpass my writing skills and dynamics with ease) I decided to do one with Flora :3 I'm so creative XD. **

**I've also thought about this a lot, and have come to a decision: I'm giving up on A Medicine Cat's Duty, Black Sun, and Hellfire until I can actually handle three FanFics at once. For now, this story is going to be the only story on my account. Sorry to disappoint all of you with my 'brilliant' writing skills, but I can't handle three fics on one account… **

**I've just ruined your lives, right? **

**So, anyways… **

**Here we goooo with ****_Timid Pastures_****! **

* * *

**ONE:**

_"The strongest people are not those who show strength in front of us, but those who win battles we know nothing about."_

Be strong was a phrase she heard all too often.

Flora had always been strong-willed and quick-witted—or so her mother used to tell her—and so when Stripes proposed the idea of attacking these felines—cats just like them, but with a different name to describe themselves: the Tribe—she was the first one to leap to her paws and agree.

But, just like that, there had to be somecat to stand up and protest against Stripes's wishes.

And that feeble, imbusle of a cat was no other than Flick himself.

Flick was always a little termite, even from when he was a small kit. He was like a bug you couldn't get rid of—always buzzing in your ear until some cat bothered to yell at him to snap his trap shut. More often than not, it was always Flora. And more often than not, he chose to listen.

But nontheless, Flick had tried to reason with their leader, and Stripes ignored the little termite's reasons and stated that they must go into battle with the Tribe, for it was the only way to ensure that the queens and kits of their gang could survive.

And here she was now, fighting against the Tribe cats and a group of foul-smelling cats' she did not know the origin of.

But the determining factor of the matter was the look in _his _eyes. A dull, teeming and terrified amber. The cat—a tom, she realized after a moment—had eyes that were flaming with anger yet also fear. He was scared for his life, and only left a few measly and harmful wounds on Flora's body before he fled, back into the safety of his comrades where no cat could harm him.

She arched her back and hissed at a few cats, left piercing and heavily bleeding wounds on others, and clawed one cat to death, all up until Stripes howled through the night air for them to retreat. He murmured a few, incoherent words to the two cats before him, from where Flora could see before he turned around and led his beaten and battered allies into the shadows.

Stripes led his group around the far side of the mountain for what felt like ages. Flora's paws were aching, her back was shining with he multiple wounds inflicted upon it, and her right foreleg felt like it was touching a pile of hot embers.

It wasn't long before one of Stripes' main cats, Jag, padded up to him. "We need to rest, Stripes," Flora heard him murmur in the striped gray tabby's ear.

Stripes let out a faint hiss and lashed his tail, slightly hitting Flora in the muzzle. "We rest when I say we rest," he ordered, dismissing Jag's worried comment.

But Jag, oh, fearless and committed Jag, would not let the order stop him from prevailing. "We need to rest, now," he said tightly, as if his patience with Stripes was wearing thin. But that was how every cat spoke to Stripes; they had wee patience for him, now that they were all starving from lack of food. Stripes, as though reluctant to oblige to a cat in such a lower and powerless state than he was, let out a harsh and ragged snort and led his cats' to the base of the mountainside, where a small, jagged cliff-like rock jutted out of the side. It looked way too small to hold all of Stripes' cats, but once they all settled down on their bellies, grateful for the resting of their paws and the time to clean their wounds, it surprisingly seemed larger.

Flora settled down carefully on her belly and twisted backward so she could clean her wounds on her back. A cat settled down beside her with their fur brushing, yet neither bothered to snap at the other to move; that was how the gang was. You protected your own hide alongside your brothers and sisters, and in the end you all got to eat and wake up the next morning thankful to be alive.

Twist, a defiant and certainly a cat not to be messed with, growled loud enough for Stripes to hear, "We should go back. I think we can beat them if—"

But even before she could finish her sentence, Stripes whirled around and threw her onto the ground, his dagger-sharp claws piercing her already wounded and ragged pelt. "Feel that, Twist? Feel those already inflicted upon wounds burning even more than they had before?"

He waited for Twist to nod sheepishly before he continued, a cruel smile gracing his features.

"You think we can win, ha! You wouldn't stand a chance without this gang, Twist." he shot a glare at the rest of them, Flora's pelt burning with the heat of her amber gaze as it swept over her. "In fact, none of you would last a night without the gang! You all would die from cold, hunger, or even just fatigue. You all would be nothing without this gang; you would be what you were before I took a kind offer and let you into this: rogues." He let Twist up after a moment of silence from both her and the rest of the cats.

Flora's heart twisted as she realized the gray tabby cat had a point. Although each and every cat here was a rogue nontheless, Stripes had preferred to call them by a different name than 'rogues'. Thus, the term 'gang' was thought of, and it had stuck ever since.

Flora blinked for a moment or two before resting her aching head on the cool, hard stone of the mountain. It felt nice on her sweaty and clammy pelt, her aching paws, her wounds even. She closed her eyes, tucked her nose under her tail, and tried to allow sleep to claim her.

But sleep wouldn't come, and Flora lay there for what felt like hours, tossing and turning. Every so often the cats around her would snap and hiss at her to stop, and she would apologize to them, but the tossing and turning only intensified as the night went on. Her mother had liked to tell stories about it, whatever was away from this mountain, and how there was grass and green and trees. Twist had seen trees, of course, but they were scraggly, clinging to the rock edges of the mountain's face with tenacious claw-like roots. She'd seen the color green—her mother's eyes were yellow, though her own were green.

But she'd never seen grass.

And, she admitted to herself, opening her eyes to look up at the cold sky and shivering, she would very much like to see grass.

The fateful and tedious idea then clicked inside her mind.

Flora's legs came off the ground as she feebly rose to her paws, her breathing coming in quiet and exasperated gasps as she fought to control her anticipation and running thoughts. She didn't have to be here. She had no kin, no mate, no friends here within this cluster of cats.

So what in the world was keeping her here?

_Safety? _The idea and overall thought made Flora want to laugh out loud. No cat had safety here. Not as long as Stripes was in charge and they were this close to the Tribe, that is. But she bit her lipin a frenzy, looking over to where she could see Flick's ragged and bleeding brown fur.

What would he think when he awoke to find her gone? Would he try and find her? After all, they _used _to be friends—nearly littermates, as far as she remembered.

She then, with a smile as cruel as the night itself plastered on her face, imagined the current situation reversed and finalized her decision in her head.

Stepping over tails, paws, and leaping over a few sprawled out cats, Flora made her way towards the jagged and rough cliff face. The smile, still plastered on her muzzle from the previous though process, only widened as she looked out among the barren landscape in front of her, and down at the lush and forest-smelling landscape below her. She closed her eyes and sighed in content as a whirling breeze swept over her fur, flattening the fur against her face and making it flat against her scrawny and fragile-seeming body. It almost felt like being free...

"What are you doing over here?"

Flora forze, fear seizing her heart. She turned, apprehensive to face whoever was there, and found Stripes. He was standing before her, his amber eyes blurred from sleep yet seething with reage, as was his ragged yet bristling pelt.

Gulping down her fear like she would prey, she greeted him casually. "Hello there, Stripes... It's a beautiful night for standing here, is it not?"

Stripes' eyes closed for a moment, and the gray tabby seemed to be controlling his inner anger. "What," he meowed harshly when his eyes opened again, this time revealing a gaze full of satisfied calm. "are you doing over here, Flora?"

She smiled at him, batting her eyeslashes as though her innocence would flatter him. "Nothing."

Stripes let out a hiss of denial. "Liar. What are you doing?"

"Leaving you, the gang, and my old life behind."

He looked taken aback by this, and he took a step away from Flora in shock. "You're what now?"

She rolled her eyes and made a 'tsk' noise with her tongue, looking away from him. "You should really, really start listening to your comrades, Stripes," she meowed smoothly. "Because if you don't, some cat just might get hurt and the blame will be on _you_."

"I heard what you said, she-cat." Stripes growled. "You said you were leaving the gang."

"Oh, so you _were_ listening?"

"Why are you leaving the gang, Flora?" He sounded more surprised than angered now.

She looked at him, seeing the confusion on his face. "I don't want to be here anymore. I want to go home."

"This, the gang, is your home," Stripes' anger was back now, full-force. "We're your—"

"If you so much as say the word 'family' about this gang I'll scream." Flora snapped, baring her fangs. "We aren't a family, Stripes! This is not a family. This is far from the term of family. The gang is a group of nobodies with nowhere to go, no den to live in, no lands to hunt in. Those Tribe cats kicked us out of the only place we've ever really been settled, Stripes!"

"I know, Flora, but—" he started, but she cut him off with a snarl.

"But _nothing_, Stripes!" Flora's entire body was shaking with rage, and her own ferocity scared her. "Don't you get it, Stripes? We're nothing, and we'll always be nothing."

Stripes' eyes were narrowed to slits and burned with a fire of pury hatred. "Shut _up_!" he snarled, saliva dripping form his jaws like a wild animal. "You're just thinking this because we lost the battle. But next time, I can assure you—"

"Assure me—_us—_what, Stripes? That we'll win and prevail next time? There won't be a next time, you idiot." Flora was so angered and riled up, her own claws retracted from their places in between her pads. "You know why? Because we'll all be slain with the blood on the Tribe cats' paws and the blame on _your_ grave."

He just looked at her, like he didn't recognize her.

She murmured one last goodbye to him, before she began to trek down the slope leading to her freedom.

She hadn't even gotten two pawsteps away before he spoke. "If you leave, you will always be nothing, Flora. You're nothing without the gang. And we won't miss you."

She didn't stop walking.

* * *

**Phew! That was looooooooooooong. But it was good! :D Full of suspence and drama, eh? :3**

**Regards,**

**-Hourglass -+-**


	2. Chapter 2

**Three reviews for only one chapter, all of them being positive? *o* *does happy dance***

**Woo! I'm glad you all like this story! :) **

**There's a certain someone you all will become acquainted with in this chapter. But, being as I hate spoilers for chapters head on before I even start reading, I'm leaving y'all in the dust right now until you can figure it out ;)**

**Regards, **

**Hourglass -+-**

* * *

**TWO:**

_"Every thought is a battle, every breath is a war. And I really don't think I'm winning anymore."_

Flora's overall composure didn't fully surface until she was far away—far away from Stripes' eyes, far away from the gang, far away from her old life in which she didn't want to remember. Falling heavily onto the cliff face, pressing her shoulder against the freezing stone, she closed her eyes tightly shut and just stood there.

_What are you thinking? _It was near the frozen-time of the year, and snow would soon be covering the entire mountain. Without the warmth of another cat, how would she survive? She could hunt for herself, sure, but it was so much easier with another cat to scare it right into her paws.

_Well, you can cut that out right now, _she told herself, shaking her fur out as if by doing so the thought would diminish into thin air, just like the dust collected on her fur from moons of sleeping on dusty, hard stone was. _No one's here to help you. You're on your own, just like you wanted. _

Flora let out a faint hiss in response to her thoughts and pushed herself away from the cliff face, opening her eyes and studying the landscape before her through tentive eyes. If she pricked her ears high enough, she could faintly hear the sounds of a large stream flowing nearby—hope rose in her chest as she plummeted down the decline and into the forest below. A stream meant water, water meant fish or any other sort or prey, and prey meant survival!

She cataloged it away in the back of her mind, trying to make a mental map of the terrain so far. The mountain still extended onward and seemingly infinitely upwards, disappearing into a neck-arching high cloud that she could see the outline of, backlit silver by the full moon. Flora took a mere second out of her night to wonder how in the world the Tribe cats' could live in such high places—and more importantly, what drove Stripes to attack them in the first place with knowing full well what would happen if any cat fell off the cliffside.

Feeling self-aware, Flora quietly and narrow-mindedly crept into the soft yet sanctuary feel of a bush.

A sudden, menacing and deep hiss of annoyance shook Flora out of her daydream. She turned her head and peeked out from behind her bush, seldom and hesitant, unsure of what could possibly have followed her. Her eyes grew wide as she saw a dark shadow creeping along the high treeline that jutted out above her, tangling and weaving like two mates' tails would.

And then, she saw the formation of a cat.

It was a large, slender cat, with short pricked ears and a sweeping tail. She could tell it was a tom by the width of the shoulders, but she couldn't make out the color.

He seemed to jump from tree to tree with ease, as if he were a cat who knew these borderlines between the mountains and trees fairly well. He stumbled a few times from not watching where his paws were being placed, but he seemed to not care as he showered leaves all over her long, brown and cream pelt when he leapt onto the branch just above her.

"Hey!" Flora hissed and twitched her ears, sending the leaves that were placed atop them from the cat's carelessness floating to the ground. "Watch it!"

The cat stumbled at her outburst, surprised. He leapt for the nearest branch, as if he thought he were being followed from all the way up there. His paws just grazed the side of the branch and he dug them in, his hind legs swinging below him as he tried to propel himself upward, so much so that he could hoist himself onto the branch and get away. But his efforts failed him, as he came plummeting downwards from his perch.

"Idiot," hissed Flora as she darted forward, trying to see where the cat would land. Her legs suddenly buckled underneath her and she fell to the ground, air completely sucked from her lungs and all former pain in her side, muzzle or jaw fully back to its original harm.

The cat, clearly half of Flora's weight, thrashed and writhed on top of her. With a growl, she braced herself and shot upwards, throwing the tom off of her back.

A dull thump sounded about three pawsteps away from her, and Flora whirled around to find him staggering to his paws. The moonlight reflected off of his pelt, and Flora could clearly see the color now—it was a dark, fox-red color with cream paws, rings on his tail, and muzzle. He had two circles around his eyes—both a dark, tree trunk brown. Even his pelt was hinted with brown flecks, and his ears were tufted at the tips with the same shade.

Looking him over quickly and making sure his paws were firmly on the ground below them, she turned her back to him and began padding away.

She hadn't even got past the treeline where she had been a single moment prior before he yelled, "Hey, wait up!"

Not even bothering to turn back to look, she felt his pelt brush hers momentarilt as he fell into step beside her. "Thanks a lot," he said, huffing from lack of oxygen from having to run. "You about saved me from breaking my neck."

_Yeah, only because you decided to be stupid and fall out of a five-foot tree with me acting as your stupid cushion!_

"You were about too," Flora growled lightly, not in the mood for games when she had to be on her way if she was ever going to get away from the mountains. _Maybe, if this cat would get off my tail, I could make it past these mountains and trees within daybreak!_ "Be more careful next time."

"You saved me, though," his voice was light, timid, seemingly unaware of the annoyance that was clearly scenting Flora's pelt. "Thank you so much. I'm not used to walking along treelines, if you couldn't tell by my stumbling up there."

_I totally didn't notice. _

He took her silence as the cue to continue. "This place, these trees, this huge giant mountain.. It's all so surreal."

"You just might want to be on your way, back up into the trees where you came from." Flora hinted, her patience with this cat wearing as thin as it did with Stripes.

He let out a small gasp and fell back a few pawsteps, but Flora didn't even bother to look back at him. "But I owe you! You saved my tail back there!"

"Your neck, you mean," she corrected.

"Whatever. The point is, I have to do something to repay you!"

"You could go away. That would be delightful." Flora growled, her tail flicking behind her lavishly.

"Oh, no." he said bluntly, bouncing on his paws beside her. "I'm not leaving until I can do something _completely awesome _to pay you back."

Flora rolled her eyes, irritated with the tom and wishing he would just disappear into thin air.

"What's your name, she-cat?" he suddenly asked. His voice was casual, cool and collected like they'd been traveling all their lives together.

Flora growled lowly, her hackles bristling along her spine. She forced her pelt to lie flat as she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and continued walking, hoping her silence would indicate that she didn't want to talk. "What's yours, tom?" she countered deviously, twitching her ears.

"Esther," he answered easily, as if Flora's question had merely been an introduction.

She couldn't help but laugh out loud. Her body shook with purrs and giggles of amusement as she turned to him and blubbered, "E-Esther? T-That's your name? Ha!"

The tom—Esther—looked hurt. "That's my name," he stated shyly, suddenly self-concious. His ears flattened against his head and he backed up a pawstep from her, his tail between his legs as he was ashamed of himself. "My mother named me that, thank you very much."

Flora blinked, stunned that his name was...well, what it was. "Well, okay, Eser..."

His eyes narrowed with amusement as she struggled to say his name. "It's Es_ther_, she-cat. It's supposed to just roll off your tongue like water. Come on, say it with me... Es-_ther_." he stated the last part as if he was speaking to a cat that didn't know how to talk, and Flora could feel her whiskers twitching in amusement.

Noticing that his demeanor and bravado had risen to drastic measures, Esther's thick tail curled over his back in pride. "You never did tell me _your _name, she-cat."

His tone of pride soured her mood rather sharply. "I didn't ask you to come along," she snapped. "And frankly, I don't think you need to know my name."

"But you saved me from that thing back there," Esther stated, his round golden-amber eyes flashing. "So I have to know your name if I'm ever going to be friends with you!"

"That thing was the _ground_, you idiot." Flora rolled her eyes and flicked her tail absentmindedly behind her, trying to seem bored of the conversation. "And by the way, I will _never, ever _become friends with a snooty, full-of-himself tom like yourself."

"I'm not full of myself," Esther whimpered, seeming hurt by her words. "Or snooty."

This was annoying—all she wanted to do was just leave that bunch of stupid idiots and what's the first thing she finds? Another idiot, the same as the ones she had been living with before!

"It's fine," he said suddenly, surprising her with the gentleness of his voice. "You don't have to tell me your name. We can just walk together, if that's all right. I'm afraid of the dark." his voice was suddenly timid and hesitant as he asked, "Are you?"

She surprised herself by answering his question: "No, I'm not."

"Oh, really?" the light, abrasive tone was back in his voice. "What _are _you afraid of, then, if not the dark?"

"Nothing. I'm afraid of nothing."

"Oh, come on," he nudged her with his shoulder, and the masculinity of his bone about sent Flora off of her paws and into the dirt below her. "You've got to have at least _one _fear."

"Look, that's kind of a private matter, don't you think?" She shot him a dirty look. "So drop it, would you?"

"Ooh." He pretended to flinch. "That was mean."

"Does it look like I care?" Flora flashed back, narrowing her eyes.

"Not really," he answered smoothly as he began to pad away from her, this time making Flora run to catch up. "I think I'd like to get to know you better, mysterious she-cat." Esther suddenly told her as they walked side by side, step for step.

She stopped cold. "Get to know me?" she echoed.

"Yeah," he said easily. "You know, friends. We could hang out together, hunt, fish, travel. It'll be fun!"

She was dumbfounded. No one had ever wanted to be friends with her before. In the gang, you had brothers and sisters—or so they were called, though Twist had no blood brothers or sisters—but never friends. The most important thing is one's own survival. Friends meant that you had to look out for someone else, not yourself all the time. What did that really mean? Could she even _have _friends? She had never truly tried to make any, so could Esther be a longshot in the making for the term of 'friend'?

But Esther's bright, golden-amber eyes were bright with emotion as he turned to her, stopping them once more on the trail.

Flora, with all her might, tried to imagine herself looking like that at another cat and couldn't. She couldn't even identify what emotion he had in those eyes.

_You're nothing without the gang. _That's what Stripes had said.

Teeth gritted, she knew what she had to do. Everything—_anything_—to be different from the gang.

"I would like that," she said smoothly, although silently snapping off her own head from inside her mind. "Nice to meet you, Esther. By the way, the name is Flora."

* * *

**BAM! TWO UPDATES IN ONE DAY, EACH 2,000+ WORDS! :D**

**Who else like Esther? I think he's a real nutjob, but kind of sweet as well. :3 He's funneh, tooz. xD**

**Regards, **

**Hourglass -+-**


	3. Chapter 3

**Heeeeey, you guys. Did you all know that listening to these songs:**

**Amnesia ~ 5 Seconds of Summer**

**Sad Song ~ We The Kings **

**Everything Has Changed ~ Taylor Swift ft. Ed Sheeran**

**all help you write? They helped me a lot, so go ahead and use them to let your creativeness flooooooooow! **

**Regards,**

**Hourglass -+-**

* * *

**THREE:**

_"If you don't fight for what you love, don't cry for what you lose."_

"Hey, Flora! Come here! This is _awesome_! You've got to try it!"

Flora's brown and cream pelt bristled with annoyance as she watched Esther twist, turn, and wiggle his paw around in the water of the stream. "You're so stupid." she said bluntly, rolling her eyes at him.

His ears pricked from where he sat atop the rock, while she was on the grass, watching him. "That was mean." he told her with a saddened tone in his voice.

"Will you remind me why I chose to invite you?" It was a pure, relevant statement more so than a mere question. After much debate and talking within her inner thoughts, along with Esther, Flora had been crazy—maybe even more idiotic than Esther—to invite him along. Now, Flora was deeply regretting her decision, and hoped to the stars above that this journey would be over soon.

What journey, in fact, was she even planning to follow? She had no plans for after this—in fact, the thought of 'after this is all over' hadn't even occured to her until this point.

Esther purred in amusement and leaped off the rock, trotting up the slope until he stood before her. "You invited me for two reasons, Flora dear. One, because I'm so good-looking, and two: you need a cat to keep you company and protect you."

Flora let out a hiss in response. "That's _totally_ why."

"I know," Esther said, his voice having a light and humorous tone to it, "Why do you think I said it?"

"Does it look like I care?" Flora growled, her tail-tip, which lay at her side, twitching irritably. She turned from him, purposefully whapped his muzzle with her tail and began to pad away, wanting to get on with the journey that she wasn't even sure she would be able to survive.

She hadn't even gotten within the trees before she heard him call, "Wait!"

She didn't bother to turn around as she heard him darting at her side, just as he had when they first met only a moon ago. Flora rolled her eyes and swallowed a groan of pure annoyance, her tail flicking behind her instead to show how unhappy she was about Esther following her, when she had made it perfectly clear that she didn't want him tagging along.

"I think I know how to get past this, too." he stated suddenly, and Flora stopped abruptly in her tracks, allowing Esther to go ahead of her a few paces.

He turned, facing her, and grinned with a small purr of victory. "I knew—just _knew_—that I would get your attention by saying that."

She let out a furious growl, to which Esther held up his right, cream forepaw and pressed it against her chest as she stalked towards him. "Whoa, there, feisty." he cautioned, fear flashing through his golden-amber eyes, "I-I don't want any turmoil caused between us."

"Do you know how to get out of here or not?" she demanded, halting in her stalk with one forepaw raised in midair. His paw was still on her chest; warm and soft on the pad, fuzzy and prickly on the fur around it.

He blinked at her for a moment, confused, as if he had forgotten his previous statement. "I told you I _think_, not I _do_." He sat down beside her and casually began to wash his wet forepaw, taking his other one off of her chest.

She shook her head and growled inwardly at herself, fighting back the urge to scream. "Come on," she ordered, lashing her tail, "if we want to get past all these trees before night, we'd better get moving."

"How do you know that's going to happen?" Esther asked, twitching his tail so that it lay across Flora's paws calmly.

Flora's brown and cream pelt began to fluff up again, but she forced it to lie flat as she shook it off her paws. "I don't," she admitted sheepishly as she rose to her paws and stretched in the sunlight streaming through the trees, allowing the sun to warm her back. "But I'm taking a risk and saying it does."

"I like risks," Esther told her joyfully as he, too, rose to his paws and began to trot behind Flora.

She twisted one ear behind her head so that she could hear him talk as he blabbered on. "Risks are so fun! They're full of adrenaline, action, and possibly being chased by a—"

"Do you mind?" she snarled, lashing her tail.

His long, fox-red pelt blended with the darkened leaves on the ground and atop bushes as he slunk past them, smooth like a snake, until he reached her side. "No, I don't," he said calmly, taking a moment to glance at Flora, and the cream and brown she-cat felt her fur growing warm under his gaze. "But if you want me to stop, I will."

His voice was gentle and considerate—something Flora had never heard out of a cat before. The mere thought of being nice to a cat like her made Flora feel sick; if Stripes was here, he'd—

_No._

She shook her head, trying to clear it of the horrendous thoughts racing through it.

She was away from the gang now. She shouldn't be thinking about Stripes, Flick, Twist...they were all back there, up on the jagged, tooth-like cliff on the mountain. She was down here, with a cat she had only just met a night ago, trekking farther and farther away from her old home. Her old life.

Her _family_.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Esther's meow cut off her thoughts.

Flora stared straight ahead, aware of Esther's golden-amber eyes on her as she said, "I'm fine."

"You don't look fine." his voice was hinted with just the slightest bit of worry.

"Look, Esther," Flora's patience and overall being with this tom was up to its highest point, "I have something important to do, and I don't mean to come off as impolite, but I just... I just don't need someone tagging along with me."

Esther's heavy footfalls caused Flora to turn around and look at his hurt expression. "You want to go alone." was all he murmured, his ears flat against his head.

She nodded solemnly. "Alone. I'm sorry, Esther—I really, truly am. But I think it's time we split up and went our separate ways."

His eyes flashed with hurt, and his voice sounded broken as he said, "I thought we were friends, Flora..."

"We _are_ friends, Esther," Flora mewed softly, feeling her heart twist and coil with regret that she had said anything to him. "I am grateful for your company and everything you've managed to do in order to help me out, but I'm okay. I can do this by myself now." With that, she began to turn away from him and trek her way, slowly, along the grass.

She had barely even made it to the treeline before a pelt brushed against hers, and she turned to find Esther standing beside her, his eyes burning with an emotion she could not comphrehend.

"You might be able to do this by yourself," he said with an abraiveness to his voice, "But I can't."

She let out a snort and flicked her tail behind her, rolling her eyes. "Oh, yeah? And why is it? Because you're afraid of the dark?"

He shook his head. And then, with a sudden jerk of his head, Esther's forehead was resting against hers, and his eyes were locked on Flora's. He whispered with a voice that was embarrassed yet proud:

"Because I'm afraid of losing _you_."

* * *

***FLAMEFLAMEFLAMEFLAMEFLAMEFLAMEFLAME***

**Yessss, I did it. I confessed Esther's sudden love for Flora and we haven't even made it to chapter five yet. Flame if you wish, I'm accepting them with open arms. *****holds out arms for emphasis***

**Sorry this was so short. I had no inspiration for this since I updated twice on Sunday, then kept getting TONS of PMs from other authors that said this was JUST LIKE SIDESTEP. I even got a review about it saying this:**

**'Very much like Sidestep...' **

**While that is true, indeed, I have my own personal take below:**

**Yes, in those two chapters, it was like Sidestep. But now, as you can plainly see, it took a dramatic turn for the better/worse and is now different from Sidestep. **

**Happy now?**

**Regards,**

**Hourglass -+-**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sometimes, I just don't know how you guys can write daily. ;-;**

**I lose inspiration often, as you can probably tell from my lack of updating… I just…can't find a storyline that I'm so in love with that I can come up with ideas right off the dot like I usually can for this fandom. **

**Nevertheless, I basically forced my brain to work and write this for you all, since I know how much my stories mean to y'all even if they don't mean a lot to me XD. **

**I've thought about making a story; yes, yes, ****another**** story. But I'm throwing you for a loop here and giving you spoilers early so that once I feel confident enough to post it, you all will know what the gist of it is without having to guess XD. **

**It's about two leaders; ThunderClan and ShadowClan, falling in luuuuurve. XD **

**I know: totally shitty right? :D**

**Anyways… Back to the real world, Ben XD. **

**Onto the chapter! **

**Regards, **

**Hourglass -+-**

* * *

**FOUR:**

_"Every battle is won, even before it is ever fought."_

_"Esther!"_

_Flora could see him perfectly. She could see him in this darkened place. She could match every curve, twitch, or movement of his body with the image in her mind. _

_There was something behind her, preventing her from rushing towards him; to feel him, to touch him, to look into his beautiful, golden-amber eyes and see her entire future there. She hadn't seen it before this moment. Esther was her future, her 'when this all ends'..._

_Esther was her beginning and end. _

_Desperate, she tried to call him again, louder this time. "Esther, it's me! Turn and look at me! It's Flora!" What she thought was a loud, lucid and strong cry happened to become a mere whisper as it surpassed her vocal cords and exited her mouth. _

_His ear twitched, as if he had heard her cries, yet did not turn around and face her. _

_"Esther, please! Look at me!" _

_Her cries were muffled as the dark force, which had been clawing and scraping at her fur in order to prevent her from racing for him in the nick of time, pulled her into its slick, greasy and black depths. Flora cried out again, but this time, her cries were unheard. _

_She stood, on shaking paws, before three cats: A gray tabby tom, a large golden tabby tom, and a pure black she-cat. _

_She recognized the two toms and immediately hissed, "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be with the Tribe!" _

_"We are," answered the gray tabby meekly, his blind eyes settling on Flora with a haunting glint in them. _

_Flora glanced at the black she-cat and sniffed. "Who's this?" _

_"Our sister," replied the golden tabby, swishing his tail behind him. "Hollypaw."_

_"Why are you here? Send me back to Esther!" Flora looked desparately back at the blackness behind her, to which she could see Esther standing there in the same position he had been before. She realized with a haunting shiver passing through her body that she could see and call to Esther, but he himself could not hear or see her, even if she were to be standing right in front of him. _

_"We've come to help you," Hollypaw said sympathetically, her watchful green eyes on Flora as she turned back to the three cats. _

_"Help me?" Flora let out a laugh. "How?"_

_Hollypaw looked at her brothers. "Lionpaw, Jaypaw, do you want to do the honors?" _

_Jaypaw nodded before Lionpaw could take up the offer. "You must save Esther, Flora. For he is in danger; a danger that us Clan or Tribe cats have never seen."_

_"You're to come back to the Clans with us," Lionpaw meowed simply. "We will meet you at the cliff face on the other side of the mountain in two moons time."_

_Flora stared at the cats', unable to produce words. "That... That doesn't make sense, though: why would I come back with you, if all you're to do with me is take me back to this...this Clan you speak of."_

_"You have a destiny that we cannot unfold to you yet," Hollypaw whispered. "It will be revealed to you in time, as you develop our ways of life."_

_"But... But does Esther get to come with me?"_

_The question, although completely harmless to say in Flora's mind, seemed to shock all three cats'. Jaypaw swallowed harshly, Lionpaw swayed awakwardly on his back paws, and Hollypaw remained silent. _

_"Well?" Flora demanded. "Does he?"_

_Jaypaw shook his head. "No, Flora. He does not."_

_Flora bristled, her hackles rising along her spine. "Why not, Jay... Jaywhatever?"_

_"Jaypaw," corrected Hollypaw, and Flora threw the black she-cat a glare. She seemed to regret saying this, but she did it anyway, for it would provide Flora with imformation she did not yet know:_

_"Esther can't come with you, Flora, because..."_

_"Because you're the one who needs to be safe for the time being." Lionpaw said, twitching his ears. "Ester will find his way back to wherever he came from, but for now you're our sole responsiblity."_

_"We need to make sure you're coming back to us in one piece," Jaypaw stated. "Esther has already submitted himself to evil. You're still on the good side."_

_"You're saying I'm the only one who can save him," Flora growled, her pelt twitching and vibrating with anger. "Yet he can't come to our home with us? That's completely idiotic!"_

_"It's for the best, Flora." Jaypaw meowed, his blind eyes glimmering in the darkness. _

_"Two moons, then?" Lionpaw asked, the question directed towards Flora yet was asked to all three of them. _

_She watched as Jaypaw nodded, and Hollypaw murmur a "yes" in reply. That left her, Flora, to complete the agreement. _

_Flora, with an aching pain in her heart, nodded as well. "Two moons."_

_And then, with a sharp gust of the wind, she came back to reality. _

* * *

Flora awoke abruplty, shaking as she did so. Her fur was ragged and unkept, and her eyes were blurred from both tears of fear and overall sleep. Her mind was whirling, and she felt bile rise in her throat yet forced it back down from a drink out of the small patch of bark off a tree that she had found just as it had started to rain last night. It luckily had filled with water from the drippings off the cave walls, otherwise she would be dying of thirst.

The drizzle, in all honesty, should have dulled Flora's mind as she settled back down in her nest and closed her eyes, wrapping her thick tail around her nose. She should have gone back into the depths of calm, peaceful sleep, but something held her back.

"Flora?" came a sleepy voice from across the cave, and then the opening and snapping shut of jaws as the cat yawned. "What happened?"

Flora's heart clenched; should she tell him about her dream? Should she remain silent and just allow him to assume she was still asleep?

She decided on the ladder, and began to make fake soft snoring noises.

Esther's purr of amusement made her fight the bile down again. "You're awake, I know." he said as the pine needles, still wet from the rain last night, beneath him crackled as he stood and padded over to Flora, sitting down calmly beside her. She tore a glance at him, taking in his worried state of mind; fear scent was vibrating off his pelt and his eyes were glimmering with unspoken questioning.

"Nothing happened," Flora answered as she tucked her nose and muzzle deeper into her tail fur, trying to resist the urge to just bolt out of the cave and run. "I'm fine."

Esther's eyes flashed, but he said nothing. He merely, silently and discreetly, padded back to his nest and turned so that he was facing the wall as he fell back asleep.

_I'm so sorry, Esther, but I have to do this... _

Flora rose to her paws, careful not to trodden on loose rocks in the cave and slipped out into the rain, her pelt becoming sodden with water within a few minutes of just standing out there, allowing the rain, so cool and refreshing, run off her hot and sweaty fur.

She then, without a look back, and just as she had done with Stripes', began to pad away from her old life, her old friend, and perhaps the sweetest cat she had ever met.

_Without the gang, Flora, you're nothing. And we won't miss you._

She didn't stop walking; not even then.


	5. Chapter 5

**You're all awesome. :D**

**Thank you all for your kind reviews regarding the last chapter. I'm glad you all liked it and there's much more drama where that left off as the story goes on ;)**

**Hey, I have a proposition for y'all: if I were to write a really long chapter (2,500-3,000 words max, perhaops a bit less) would you read it? Now given this will have to take some time, perhaps a few to no updates until that one chapter is finished, but I think you guys can handle not hearing from me for a couple days to a week. After all, this isn't the first time I've taken a lot of time off to write just a 2,000 word chapter. **

**XD**

**So, let me know what you think in a review! **

**Regards, **

**Hourglass -+-**

* * *

**FIVE:**

_"This is my life; I hope it doesn't scare you like it does me."_

_The air smelled of carcasses, death, and a hint of rosemary. _

_Of all the things the tom could have thought, this was what his mind had completely begged for. This was what his mind had been hungry for, devouring any other senses or ideas with a single gulp; this is what his mind had been craving, and now that it had successfully done its duty, it was remaining there; holding him there, in the darkened shallows of his own identity. _

_Where am I?_

_It wasn't a question; more of a simple, ungrateful statement. _

_The wind, sharp and cold, blasted against his shaggy pelt and the tom suppressed the urge to shiver. It was then, and then only, did he realize just what his future was foretelling him. _

"_Fancy seeing you here, Brother." _

_The tom whirled around, his pelt bushing up to twice its normal size. There, in the dark recesses of his mind, sat his older brother. His brother's pelt: a similar one to his own; a fox-red with black stripes instead of cream. His ears were identical to his own; curved along the sides and pointed at the very top. _

_The only thing that separated him from his brother was the eyes. _

_His were a magnificent golden-amber; his mother used to say it was as if the sunrise and sunset had chosen to live inside his irises. His brother's had been a deep, dark, night-sky blue. _

_But now, they were red. Crimson, glimmering and slick like blood, to be exact. _

_The tom dipped his head in politeness to his kin. "It's good to see you again, Requiem. How are you?"_

_Requiem lashed his tail and hissed at his brother, his red eyes seething and seeming to make the other tom sway on his paws. "I did not come here for a casual conversation, dear Esther. I have come by the summoning of our father."_

"_Father sent you?" Esther gasped, blinking harshly against the dark cloud his vision was producing as he looked into his brother's red eyes once more. "Why?"_

"_Father has a request of you, Brother." Requiem replied solemnly with a twitch of his right ear. _

_Esther tipped his head to the side, blinking at his brother. "What kind of request?"_

_Requiem suddenly let out a loud cackle, his red eyes glowing, as was a blinding white aura around him; Esther hissed as the light came in contact with his fur, burning it and making it feel like he was standing on the hottest pile of embers he could ever encounter. _

"_He wants you dead." Requiem whispered. The blinding light grew stronger, more powerful as Requiem launched himself at Esther, his blood red eyes turning from those of blood to those of sunset and sunrise, and his black features turned to those of cream. _

_The eyes of the one he loved, the cry of hers, rang in his ears as he fell to his death at the mercy of himself. _

_"Esther!" _

* * *

He awoke engulfed in sweat and haunting memories. His eyes were focused on blackness; everywhere, there it was. Fear clenched his heart as he thought he had been transported to a place within his mind, but then calmed himself as the light of the moon fell through a crack in the small yet spacious cave, dripping along the walls and dappling his fur like raindrops.

Esther rose to his paws, scrambling out of the cave as if he were being chased by a pack of wild beasts. A breeze blew against his hot and sticky pelt, and he let out a small purr of contempt. He could live here; in the darkened cave, with her...with Flora by his side all the rest of his days.

It took Esther a moment to realize that she hadn't come out with him.

Esther's mind suddenly blasted with pain; a white, hot, seething and menacing jab. He hissed and doubled over, the headache only growing stronger by the mere seconds and as his heart began to speed up from all the pressure on his body; his mind felt as if it were being chopped, clawed, and tore through with sharp, indecisive teeth and claws.

His muscles were coiling; bending; reforming themselves into a bulky stature made for a tom twice Esther's age. His eyes were sharpening; reforming; transforming themselves into those of an old, ancient cat; they were wise, old, and intensely alert to all of his surroundings.

_What's happening to me?_

He suddenly bolted down the side of the cliff, his legs making him run faster than he'd ever known. He frantically searched around for a puddle of water and found on at the base of a darkened, old birch tree. He raced over to it and peered down at his reflection, as his face began to mold into one he did not recognize.

His pelt was a dark, almost black-brown with white jagged markings all along his fur; his eyes were a narrow, abrasive yellow and glowing with a burning white light around the pupil; his ears were shorter, yet still curved at the sides and pricked at the top. When Esther smiled, sharp and glistening white fangs poked out from behind his lips.

_Thank you, son... I appreciate the host I've been given in exchange for the one you love... _

Esther's heart seized at the mention of 'love'.

They had Flora.

* * *

**Sorry, guys... **

**I know it's short, but I want to save the really huge part for Flora and Esther for the next chapter :D I may or may not type it up yet, because I've got a writing camp to go to on Sunday so I won't be able to type it. **

**It ends on the 21st of August, but then I've got to go to Atlanta, Georgia for a writing conference... Ugh, the life of a college writing major. -.-**

**Regards, and hopefully to see you soon,**

**Hourglass -+-**


	6. Chapter 6

**I left ****Reagan, my girlfriend, home with my two dogs Pilot and Harlem, along with my two cats Willowshine and Hollyleaf XD. I'm sure she's being driven crazy. **

**I officially love this writing camp. :D**

**First of all, it has STINKING WIFI! My dreams and expectations have been met. Secondly, I am able to sit around the dorm and be on my computer as I please, since I'm a counselor here XD. It's awesome. **

**Thirdly, because… I'm the only one in my dorm ;-;. No one wanted a gay guy as their counselor, I guess.**

**I NEVER WANT TO LEAVE THIS PLACE XD.**

**It's nine o' clock here ;-;. I'm tired, but I'm not tired… Weird. **

**Regards, **

**Hourglass -+-**

* * *

**SIX:  
**

_"The kindest people are the most broken..."_

There was a time in Flora's life that was much happier. Much more lively.

And definitely not so…tom-filled.

Sure, she had lived -fed, slept beside, and bathed around to be exact- toms, but none were as disgusting or ill-mannered as these.

These toms were horrible. Dirty, smelling of scents she did not know, and the most repugnant and demanding cats she had ever met.

And naturally, they hadn't even been polite and invite her to join them. No, instead, they decided to _forcefully take her_.

"Are you _ever _going to get up, she-cat?"

The voice of one cat snapped Flora out of her thoughts. Lifting her head and careful not to come across the cat's eyes, she blinked harshly at the ground and hissed, "I have a name, you know. I've already told you it, tom."

The cat let out a sharp hiss, and Flora's left ear-tip came away stinging and wet. "Don't talk back, kitty," he cooed to her, as if he were an old friend of hers. "What's your name again? I couldn't hear it over the constant wailing of -"

"Xavier! Has our prisoner spoken yet?"

The tom turned, his tail whipping fiercely against Flora's muzzle. The cream and brown she-cat could lift her head fully now that Xavier had turned his eyes away from her; but even so, she continued to stare at the ground, aware of the presence of another cat, this one being a she-cat just like her.

\Xavier's cold stare was once more on her pelt as he answered the she-cat's question. "She's spoken all right, Vixen."

Flora's ears twitched as she heard Vixen's sharp and devious claws tapping against the ground in impatience. "What has she said?"

"All but what we want to know." Xavier replied, his tail swishing the air behind him.

Vixen hissed, her saliva dripping onto one of Flora's forepaws. Flora shook it off harshly, growling at Vixen and lifting her eyes to meet the she-cat's; Vixen's cool, glimmering ice-blue eyes contrasted against her pure black pelt. From the three pawstep distance between them, Flora knew this she-cat could - would, in fact - kill her with a swift snap of her claws if she stepped over the line.

"Pity you are, she-cat..." Vixen muttered as she bent down to Flora's crouching level and stared at her. Her sharp claws traced along Flora's forepaw, foreleg, chest, and finally reaching her neck. "I would've thought you'd be more talkative...perhaps even more demanding than what you're appearing to be."

Flora snarled at Vixen and shook off her claws, but the pure black cat merely laughed at her. "Why am I here?" Flora snapped, cutting off Vixen's bouts of laughter.

"That's confidential," Xavier said harshly, baring his fangs at her.

"I deserve to know," Flora flashed back, lashing her tail.

"Enough, Xavier." ordered Vixen, and the tom snapped his jaws shut. Her ice-blue gaze retracted from Xavier and back to Flora, and both she-cats' stared each other down, as if either could get answers from the other just by staring into their eyes. "I am not allowed - nor would I if I had the choice - to disclose that information to you, pitiful cat. You're here because you are, got it?"

"That doesn't help me." Flora growled.

"It's not supposed to." Vixen stated coldly. She flicked her tail at Xavier and the tom stepped to her side, his ears flat to his head in submission. "Find the other, now."

Xavier dipped his head and padded away, his cruel, cerulean eyes glimmering with malice and bloodshed as he walked into the shadows.

* * *

From the looks of things, the cleanness of the cat's fur, all evidence hidden and missing from sight, Esther would've sworn that this cat was sleeping.

In reality, he should have never come across this cat. But the tom had merely jumped out at Esther as he had been hunting in the thickest part of a shady patch of the forest, far away from his cave. The tom had flung himself at Esther to which he himself had retaliated quickly, and together, the two toms' prowled and nipped at one another, gliding across the frost-covered grass as if they were dancing from paw-to-paw.

In the end, Esther's claws had been stained with crimson, and the snow that had once been pure, unharmed, was now scarlet.

_I need to bury him... Get rid of the body so that you're not found. _

Esther took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and grabbed the tom's scruff in between his teeth, dragging the cat's bloodied body through the already scarlet snow. He felt bile rising in his throat from the smell of the cat and his own selflessness to do such a thing, but tried to keep it down. He failed miserably, and finally grasping his paw around the thought of throwing up, Esther dropped the tom's scruff, bent down behind a large bush and heaved up his insides.

Only when the waves and constant feeling of nausea pass did Esther turn back to the body.

Flies were already picking at the cat's body; and with the body not even being a day old, merely a few hours surprised Esther. Regardless and this time holding back the bile in his throat, he leaned forward and grabbed the other tom's body, the flies scattering as if they had been caught; Esther, begrudgingly and disdainfully, hauled the dead body to a snow drift, dug a hole deep enough so that when cats' came looking, they wouldn't find it and then placed the ragged cat inside, pushing and packing snow all around him.

_May you rest in peace, and I'm sorry that this happened..._

The sound of snow scattering beneath a subtle amount of weight snapped Esther out of his thoughts. Turning, he saw two toms - one a dark brown, the other a pure black - looking at him idly, as if he were a piece of prey they had been hunting for a while and now had cornered.

Esther, out of politeness, spoke first. "C-Can I help you?"

The dark brown tom swiped his tongue around his jaws, his clear, shimmering amber eyes focused on Esther intently. "I'm glad you asked, Esther..."

Esther drew back, horror running through his bloodstream. "How do you know my name?"

This time, it was the black tom who spoke. "We know a lot of things about you, Esther... Take a walk with us, and we'll tell you everything we know..."

The dark brown tom snickered at Esther's seemingly petrified face. He stalked towards him, to which Esther cowered in fear up against a large snow bank, hoping that he could blend in with the white surface. "You look like you're lost, Esther... Are you okay?"

Esther shook his head, trying to clear the running thoughts so that he could respond logically. "I'm fine."

The black tom let out a small purr, what of which Esther was puzzled. His voice was smooth, sweet, and collected as he meowed, "How's that little mate of yours, Esther? What's her name... It's right on the tip of my tongue..." his eyes flashed with recognition and excitement. "How's _Flora_, Esther?"

At the mention of her name, Esther snarled deep in his throat and bared his fangs at the black cat. "You," he snarled, trying to shove the dark brown cat out of his way so that he could rip out the black tom's throat, but the dark brown tom didn't budge one bit. "You monsters!"

"Oh, we're not monsters..." The dark brown cat purred sweetly in Esther's ear. "We've actually taken a liking to this little mate of yours - she's kind, sweet, and full of surprises..."

Esther's nostrils flared in anger, and his loud growls made the snow shake beneath his soaking wet fur.

"Don't be like that," the black tom added, his haunting amber eyes holding Esther's gaze in place as they locked; he couldn't move his eyes, nor could Esther. "Your little mate is with us now - perfectly safe and sound..."

Esther couldn't help but demand the one thing he wished for all these moons without Flora:

"Take me to see her, now."

* * *

Flora's eyes snapped open, her ears twitching as her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the cave she happened to be in. She looked around, blinking her eyes a few times in confusion, fully unaware of where she was. She could pick out little snippets of voices coming from a far end of the stone walls, the sounds echoing and maneuvering their way into her ears:

"I told you to bring him back alive!"

"We did bring him back... But -"

"But _nothing_, Xavier. You failed your mission, and now look at where Dem is! He's buried in the cold snow all the way back in the forest!"

It took her a moment to realize that she wasn't in the forest; she wasn't in the cave with Esther; no, she was with these rogues. These dirty, foul-mouthed rogues who had forcefully brought her here and weren't letting her go. She slunk around the crevice of the small cave, peering only with her eyes at the far end of the clearing; there, in the reflected moonlight stood Vixen, Xavier, and Hark. Two others cats - she-cat's - were holding down another cat - this one unknown to Flora, being as she could not see the face.

"We brought this one back, Vixen..." she recognized the voice of Hark, a black tom who Xavier had called to fetch the 'other' cat whom Vixen obviously wanted.

The sound of thrashing, hissing and clawing followed his statement, and a sharp, indignant yowl of, "Let me go!" came with it.

"Shut up, crowfood." Hark snarled at the unknown cat. "Fleck, Jet, restrain him."

The 'other's cries and pleas were muffled as Fleck and Jet shoved the cat's muzzle into the ground, causing it to snap shut; the sound echoed across the area and into Flora's ears, making her stomach turn over on itself.

"Are you sure he's the right one?" asked Vixen coolly, as if the unknown being were just a simple piece of prey at her paws.

"I can assure you that this is him," Hark replied and snickered wildly.

"Watch," said Xavier and looked towards Flora's cave with menace in his eyes. Flora ducked down behind a large and wide rock, careful to not let her fear scent reach beyond the stone. Her heart seized and her eyes shut tight as Xavier's command reached her ears, "Flora! Come out at once!"

With a heavy heart, she sighed deeply and padded out of the safety of the rock and out into the moonlight.

_Stars above, forgive me... For I have sinned... _

* * *

He watched her step out from a large rock and into his line of sight. Moonlight dappled her pelt, making it shimmer and glow as if she were made of starlight. Her pawsteps were calm, collected, and certainly elegant; her slender body prowled easily across the smooth stone, making it look as if she were floating above the ground.

Her eyes were cold, though. Fierce, lifeless, and dull; everything that Hark and Xavier had told him they weren't.

She stopped just pawsteps from Vixen and mewed quietly, "What is it, Xavier?" her voice was shrill, dull, as if she had no compassion left inside of her.

Esther let out a snarl and lashed out at Jet, wanting to feel the pure white she-cat's blood on his claws for holding him down. The she-cat ended up flying into the air and landing on the ground with a thump, causing Fleck to look in the direction of Jet only for a moment before Esther himself was held down by only one; but Fleck had the strength and harshness of both she and Jet combined.

_I should have thrown her first_, Esther thought with a growl.

Xaiver stepped up to Flora's side, their fur brushing just the slightest bit; a fire of rage burned within Esther and he let out a snarl at the sight of them. The dark brown tom let out a purr and tilted his head so his muzzle was facing Flora's and asked, "Do you know this cat, Flora?"

Her eyes burned and flashed with recognition and hurt, yet her voice was cold and emotionless as she replied to his demand. "No, I don't. Can I go back to my cave now?"

Xavier chuckled lowly to himself, the sound vibrating every hair on Esther's pelt and making it stand on end. "No, dearest... I think you should stay for a while..." He left her side and padded towards Esther, who tried to twist and turn to get away from Xavier. But Fleck, in all her glory, had him pinned down quite good, and so when Xavier's claws were up to his neck, holding his head up so that he and Flora locked eyes, he couldn't move away. "I'll ask you again, Flora..." Xavier's voice was colder now, more demanding and harsh, "Do you know this cat?"_  
_

Once again, Flora shook her head and replied with, "No, Xavier. I don't know that cat."

"Are you positive?" Hark asked coldly, and Flora's gaze was torn from his as the black tom padded around her in a circle. "He's a stranger? Not your friend? Not your _mate_?"

Esther's heart twisted as Flora flinched at the mention of mate, indicating that it was true. Vixen, who hadn't spoken at all since Flora had arrived, snorted through her nose before padding away from them, leaving Xavier, Hark, Flora, Fleck and himself in tension-reeking air.

Xavier made a 'tsk' noise with his tongue. "You can go now," he ordered Flora, who nodded in submission and padded back to the safety of her cave, her tail dragging behind her.

* * *

Her dreams were filled with the sounds and screams of dying cats.

Flora bolted upright, her body fizzing and standing on end as if she had been electrocuted. Her eyes whipped from one corner of the cave to the other, searching for something - anything - that would give her a sign that she had been dreaming.

She raised one forepaw and touched it to the cold, hard stone floor and sighed. She had been dreaming; the dying screams and cries of mercy were all just a dream. Shakily, Flora rose to her full height and padded slowly out of the cave, peeking and peering around every corner to make sure all the cats' on guard were asleep. Her eyes drifting across every sleeping form of Hark, Xavier, Demetri, Fleck, Hazard, were the signs of relief to her.

She finally came across him and darted forward, bounding and leaping over sleeping bodies to his side.

Esther was turned away from her, the faint sighs and murmurs indicating to Flora that he was still asleep, completely unaware she was within a paw reach of him. Flora settled lightly onto her belly, resting her muzzle on her paws and watching him from the small distance between them. Watching him be blanketed in the calmness, the warmth, the peaceful tranquility known as sleep.

It was moments like this that made Flora fall in love with him all over again.

She sighed before she could contain it within her own mind.

Esther suddenly turned on his other shoulder, just enough so that he was facing her.

Ever so softly, his voice reached her ears: "Flora?"

She reached out to him now, resting her cold paw against his warm chest. "I'm here, Esther."

His eyes, still blurred from sleep, locked onto hers. "So you are," he murmured; even his voice sounded sleep-induced. "I'm glad you are, Flora... I missed you."

The last words brought tears to her eyes. She blinked them away and shoved her emotions in the back of her mind. "I missed you too, Esther..." she whispered, closing her eyes and feeling a single tear flow from the surface.

Esther's warm tongue suddenly was at her cheek, licking away the salty water. She opened her eyes to find Esther leaning forward on his paws so that he was muzzle-to-muzzle with her. "You shouldn't be crying," he meowed softly, his muzzle lingering on her cheek for a moment before pulling away. "I'm here, Flora. You don't need to worry anymore..."

She laughed softly, raising a paw and guiding his muzzle back to hers. Their noses were touching, their breathing one with the other, their eyes locked in an intense stare-down. "I always worry," she admitted, her ears flattening against her head. "I always worry for the ones I love."

He seemed shocked at this, for his eyes grew wide. "You..." he trailed off and swallowed, blinking at her.

"I love you, Esther," Flora purred, rubbing her nose delicately against his. "I always have."

The fox-red tom broke into a wide grin, his eyes flaming with love. "I love you, too," he whispered as he looked down at her.

His breath, soft and warm, sweet and calming, brushed against her nose just the slightest bit, making Flora purr quietly to herself. How she missed this; how she missed the feeling of his breath against hers, how she missed his scent...

Stars above, how she missed _Esther_.

* * *

**SO MUCH FLUFFFF! :D**

**#Flusther (Flora x Esther) XD**

**Regards,**

**Hourglass -+-**


	7. Chapter 7

**Here I am again, with the next installment of Timid Pastures! :D**

**This one is going to be a sad, sad, _sad_ chapter. Hopefully XD. We'll see! I know the beginning is going to be quite heart-wrenching, at least it was to me when I was writing it XD. **

**Onward, my subjects! :D**

**Regards, **

**Hourglass -+- **

* * *

**SEVEN:**

_"I may not be there yet, but I'm closer than what I was yesterday."_

"I'm scared, Esther."

He turned to her then, his eyes intent on her movements as together, they watched the night sky filter into the bright, milky light of dawn. "What about?"

Her eyes - her brilliant, vibrant green eyes - remained focused on the task - the sky - at hand. "Living. Existing. Getting worse..."

"What do you mean by that?"

It was now that her eyes flickered to his, her ears twitched in apprehension, her entire pelt bristled slightly. It was the movements, Esther realized; her movements of fear, of apprehension, of intense emotions she herself could not control. For the longest time, Esther could have sworn Flora was okay - that she was _better_. But now, as he watched her in the light of dawn, it appeared to him that she was frightened more than brave. The looks, flashes, and blinking of her eyes were what assured him that she was okay; that she was fine, untroubled...

Her movements defined her; her eyes did not.

"Look, Flora, I know that being in this place isn't the best -"

"It's not that, Esther. It's everything else."

He watched as she closed her eyes and inhaled, as if she wanted to suffocate. He watched her exhale, as if reminding herself of who - of what cat - stood before her. "I'm terrified of waking up every morning, Esther. I'm terrified of going to sleep at night; I'm terrified that when I am close to that point each night, I'll be stuck alone with my thoughts until I wake... If by some miracle I manage to live my life, get a mate, maybe even have kits, I'm scared that they'll be taunted and picked on because their mother is how she is. And the sad part is that I probably won't even be able to see my kits grow up because I'll be buried out in that snow, just like Dem is! I'm terrified of breaking down one day, of snapping and falling apart and not being able to stop myself. I'm afraid that I've gone crazy. I'm afraid of my thoughts... I'm afraid of how easily I could run into a battle of thousands to just one, and I would be completely defenseless against them. But I'd be okay with that, because then I would die quickly and at the claws of my own kind... I'm scared at how weak, at how pathetic I am... _I'm afraid of myself._"

"Don't talk that way... You're nothing like that." was all Esther could say.

Flora let out a laugh of disdain, her eyes shadowed and bled of all emotions. They were dull; lifeless; gone.

He took her silence, her maniacal laugh as his cue to continue. But it was this time, the time of many, did Esther pressed his forehead against hers, allowing the fur to mold, to shape, to combine as one just as their hearts were.

Or, that's what Esther thought at least. He wasn't sure what Flora thought now.

His voice started out soft; sweet; gentle and kind. He stared into her eyes (though they were closed, hidden behind her eyelids), hoping to reach her soul with just those eyes; it was the eyes that had first attracted him to her. It was the eyes that made his heart flutter in his chest every time he looked at Flora.

And even now, as they sat beside one another in that moment, that shred of time... Her closed eyes were all he could focus on.

* * *

"Sometimes the best thing you can do is not think, not wonder, not imagine, not obsess. Just breathe, and hope that everything will work out for the best... Flora, look at me."

She did as she was told, opening her eyes and looking at him.

His voice was faint and small, as if he were dying and didn't have the will to speak:

"Remember that I love you. Remember that I care about you. Remember that I'm here for you. Remember you're not alone... Remember that I loved you from that _very first day_. Your past is just a story, Flora; and once you realize this, it has no power over you anymore..."

His eyes were pleading; his voice was broken; he himself was shaking with fear for her. The serenity in his eyes, in his voice as he spoke those words sounded so real that she wanted, even begged herself to believe him. But alas, she did not, no matter how much she willed herself to do just that simple request: to _believe_.

Because she was a dreamer of many things, but she knew this:

She dreamed of one day being completely out of touch with reality. To not have its clutches, its claws of menace scraping and wounding her every waking hour and every dreaming moment.

She just hadn't known that day would come so soon...

"Somedays, it's just so hard... You know?" The question wasn't meant for any one other than the air as she pulled away from him, seeing the sadness and hurt inflicted upon his face.

But nonetheless he answered her. "No, I don't know. That's why I'm here, Flora. _Tell me_."

The sincerity in his tone startled her, and she could feel herself giving in slowly, as she clenched her teeth, felt her jaw shift, tried to hold back the emotions that scrabbled at her chest, wounding her in their attempts to free themselves.

She could tell him. She didn't have to keep this to myself anymore.

_I could tell him._

Eyes squeezing shut, claws digging into the stone beneath them and creating jagged scar-like marks, and a deep breath, she began.

"Somedays, I can't get out of bed in the morning. No matter how hard I try. It's like –" her breath hitched, and Flora bit it back, catching hold of her lip, worrying it between her teeth. "It's like I lie there, and it's so _silent_ and I'm so alone, and then I realize that it can't stay like that. That I'm going to have to get up, and walk around like there's nothing wrong and this is all great and I don't sometimes wonder how much easier it would be to stop existing."

The sharp intake of breath from her side made Flora wonder if she'd startled Esther; as if he hadn't known how bad things had gotten for her recently. But Flora just sat there, waiting for him to comment, move away from her, or say something to make her feel worse than what she already was.

Instead, his plumy tail wrapped around her shoulders, guiding her closer to him. Startled from the gesture, she allowed his tail to guide her into the warmth, safety, comfort and muscular conformity of his chest.

She knew she should have moved away, pulled herself from the brink of falling into the trap of love. But her mind was blank in that moment, drained of all senses and all basic thoughts. It was as if her mind wasn't even inside her head at all.

And Flora was suddenly engulfed in a sea of emotions she could not contain.

She opened her mouth to explain her feelings to him, to let him know what she was dealing with, but all she could do was stutter and cry.

"I just - I - I can't..."

His muzzle rested atop her forehead, his nose just lightly drifting across the fur. His tail, still at her shoulders but slipping downwards, pulling her closer to him and allowing her to rest her head against his chest as finally, his tail stopped and rested at his side again. His voice was calm, soothing and warm with compassion as he whispered into the crown of her head.

"It's okay. It's okay."

And, quietly, but _there_, something smaller, softer, that Flora couldn't quite hear.

"You don't have too."

* * *

**Okay, so shorter than the last one but I figured it was a decent length for being stuck at the airport because you missed your stinking flight to Atlanta -.-... **

**Anyways, was that enough sadness and angst for you all? :D I never knew I wrote so well in romance and angst and feels! XD**

**Regards, and will see you in the second week of September,**

**Hourglass -+-**


	8. Chapter 8

**Okay, I lied. I'm back before the second week of September. Sue me. **

**Anyways, I'm disappointed a little bit. I would've thought - in fact, I had hope - that a few of you guys would've reviewed for last chapter when one - only one review from XxJayfeatherRocksXx - popped up... Do you guys not like the plot-line and the way it's going? I can change it completely, if it makes it up to you. **

**So yeahhh... How are you all? Did you even _like _the last chapter? SO MANY QUESTIONS. **

**But let's get onto the chapter, shall we?**

**Regards,**

**Hourglass -+- **

* * *

**EIGHT:**

**THREAT**

_"And I just hope that someday, someone will look at me the way Augustus Waters looked at Hazel Grace Lancaster."_

The night, in every sense of the word, was dreadful.

Esther had spent many nights with Flora, down here in this shallow and hollowed out tunnel of which he was allowed into at night, and of which she would always come and sleep beside him. They had luckily never been caught, for Flora would always seek back into her own cave at the very far end of the clearing, with guards usually outside her den, watching and making sure that she wouldn't escape until morning; obviously, the job had never been done, for Flora could - _would _- always be able to go out and come back in her den without a single cat noticing.

Yet even now, as the love of his life slept peaceful and tranquil beside him, Esther couldn't have felt more alone.

The echoes, calls, and howls of the former conversation he had overheard Xavier have with Vixen rang in his mind. Her hisses, her growls, her demands and orders. His calm reasons, his blunt statements, his on-the-spot rebuttals...

_She spoke rather fast, her words forming into sentences and flying past his ears so quickly, so rapid and fiercely, that he had no time to decipher what she was trying to say.  
_

_"Why did you bring one of them inside this place? You know I don't pertain to runaways."  
_

_"I was one myself, and so is she. She left them in hopes of a better life."_

_"She won't be getting that life here. She'll have to earn it - she'll have to work, harder than any of my cats' has ever worked in order to find her place here. Just because she was a prisoner - still is a prisoner - does not mean she gets a free ride to all her meals."_

_"She's worked hard these last two moonsets. I think she deserves her place here."_

_"Have you gone soft? Are you so blinded by her complexity to please us all that you can't see what she's planning down in that tunnel with that tom of hers? She's planning something, something drastic... Something that will kill us all..."_

_"I highly doubt that."_

_"You're blinded, so of course you do not believe my accusations. Just wait, though... She will strike someday, sometime, somewhere..."_

_"And when that time comes?" _

Though Esther himself had not been in there with Xavier, he could see the flashes of her claws, the cruelness in Vixen's smile as she said:

_"She must be dead. Dead on that ground just as Dem was... Only then are we safe." _

* * *

She awoke the next morning to the loud, air-shattering shriek of grief of a cat.

Raising her head, eyes blurred from sleep, the cream-and-brown she-cat felt her heartbeat accelerate to about twice its normal. Her pelt was on end, her eyes were wide and cleared from the sleep-coma, and the air reeked of her fear scent.

"No! Why him? Why my only kit?"

Curious, Flora crept lightly to her paws and forced herself to walk out into the clearing. The sharp, bright light of dawn hit her straight in the face as she made her way out of the hollow den, and finally her eyes settled upon the cat that had woken her - and the rest of the cats' - up.

The she-cat's name was Himari, that much Flora knew. But the small, dark gray tom - clearly a three moonset old kit by the looks of his scrawny frame, his puny paws, and fluffy kit pelt - that lay beside her, with eyes glazed over yet still opened, and the pelt reeking of death hidden just oh so slightly by the scents of lavender and rosemary... that cat Flora did not recognize.

She could just scarcely hear the she-cat's desperate pleas, begs, and remorseful goodbyes to the small tom:

"Rucka, my only son... Don't leave me, please... I can't lose you after I lost your sister and father..."

Flora's heart sank at the kit's name.

_No... Not Rucka... _

The tom-kit, pleasant and joyful for most of his life, had always been one of the few cats' Flora liked in this place. Rucka had been so sweet, so small yet had the biggest heart Flora had ever laid eyes on... Rucka had been a kit she would have loved to mother. But alas, as the tom grew in age and his mind began to settle itself into the thoughts and watchfulness of others, Rucka had begun to change. The tom rarely ate. He almost never slept. He only left his small, moss-patched cave to go and make dirt... Other than that, Rucka never left his den.

And now, Rucka had finally had enough.

"It was a suicide, Himari. I am greatly saddened by your loss."

Flora's chest tightened as Esther's - her beloved, peaceful Esther - voice ruled out Rucka's death without a sign - a single drop - of emotion. The fox-red tom padded forward past her, past Vixen and Xavier and Hazard and Hark, before reaching the grieving mother's side. He said nothing for a long moment, just rested his tail atop Himari's head, allowing the pale gray mother to sob into her dead kitten's pelt.

"But he was always a cheerful kit," murmured Himari after she could no longer cry out her pain. "Why did he have to do this? Why couldn't have he just came to me? I would have helped him!"

"We all would have, dearest..." Esther's voice was calm, yet his eyes brewed with his own struggles and hardships that only Flora could recognize as he turned his head from side to side, watching every single cat that was gathered shake their heads. He let out a long sigh, one that clearly spoke for him without the need to use words.

Then, with her heart heaving and pounding rapidly in her chest, Flora ran out of the cave, away from Himari, away from Esther... Away from the sadness that was threatening to break her completely.

Her composure didn't surface until she was standing on the ledge of the entrance of the large cavern. It jutted out wide, coming narrow at the very tip; it was the perfect place for a suicide to take place. It was just the perfect spot where no one would hear the cries of pain, the cracking of a neck or the breaking of a bone resulting in death.

It was the perfect place to die.

It was now, in all of Flora's years of life, did she truly, honestly, bitterly, feel completely alone.

She had Esther, indeed. She had her friends she made inside the caves, back in there, where they were all mourning Rucka with sadness beating through their veins. She had everything she could have wanted - a mate, friends, even a place to sleep and food to eat every day.

But she still felt alone. She still felt hollow. She still felt... like she could stop existing.

"It would be so much easier just to stop existing."

She turned her head to find him there, sitting beside her quietly. Esther was here - he had seen her run; she was positive.

He had quoted her. Quoted her from just a night ago, when night turned into day, and he felt completely alone, just as she did.

He knew how she felt. He knew what it was like. He had felt this same exact way...

Then why was it bothering her so much?

"But I do, Esther. I have to do it, for myself."

"You're hiding again, Flora."

She blinked, unsure of words. "Hiding? How am I hiding again?"

He smiled weakly, the ends of her dagger-like fangs peeking out from behind her lip. "You're hiding behind that mask, Esther."

"What mask?"

He let out a purr, though this wasn't a purr of love. No, in fact, it was far from the concept of love. "You're hiding behind the mask that makes you seem strong, unharmed, and substantial to anything. But I know that mask comes down - it comes down when you least expect it too."

"I don't think so -"

"I saw you in there, with Himari... You had the saddest, the hollowest look on your face. It was as if you took her pain and placed it inside your own heart... You're not as strong as you think, my love... You break, you cry, you hurt; it's just a fact of life. You act like you can't be hurt, Flora. You act like nothing bothers you. But I know how you are, and you do hurt; you do cry; you do feel something inside that heart of ice you've forced yourself to make." he looked down at her, his eyes shining with tears of his own hardships. As one fell, he spoke again:

"I want to melt that heart of ice; I want to make that heart of pain, of hurt, of sorrows fade into one of love and compassion... I can't do that if you won't let me in. You're my forever, Flora... I can't be your always if you won't let me in..."

* * *

***wipes tears from eyes***

**Oh, God... That really, really did make me cry. No joke. **

**But it so beautiful... Probably the best chapter I have ever written. Hands down.**

**I'm going to go get some ice cream and re-read this chapter over and over again ;-;... **

**Regards,**

**Hourglass -+-**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey, guys! I'm back! :D**

**Thanks for all the reviews this time XD. Sorry about last chapter; I really didn't mean to snap and practically put you all to shame… I was just upset because a special someone came and visited me in Atlanta, and this special someone just so happens to be someone I used to date. **

**Yeah, guys… Nikki's back. DX**

**But anyway, I'm not here to talk about that. Let's get on with the chapter!**

**Regards,**

**Hourglass -+-**

* * *

**NINE:**

_"I feel like everyone hates me. But that's okay; I hate me too."_

If there was one thing for certain, it was that the current snow and ice resting on Esther's pelt was getting on his nerves.

It had been a day - a night, in fact - since Rucka had died. It had been a day since Himari fell into a deep depression. It had been a day since Vixen ordered he comfort the grieving she-cat, bringing her fresh-kill and doing the duties of a cat much younger than himself.

It had been a day since she ran off, forever inside the snow's cruel and unforgiving storm.

"Did she ever explain the reason in prior to her running off?"

_She told me she didn't like this life. She left because she didn't like living here; because she hated being here. Because she didn't love me._

"No, she didn't."

Vixen's tail-tip twitched in aggravation as she stood before him, her tail lashing and pelt twice its normal size. "Did you do something to make her run away?"

_I told her I loved her and I wanted her by my side, in every waking moment and every dreaming hour. I told her that she was my forever and I was her always... I told her to let me in; I gave her my word that I would not hurt her... And now she's gone._

"I did nothing."

"Did you try and stop her? Say anything that would get her to come back?"

_I tried to stop her. I really did. I pleaded, begged, I even prayed to the stars above for her not to do this. To not leave me like everyone else has in my short amount of living. Regardless, it meant nothing to her; she left without a simple murmur, not even a goodbye. Just turned tail and darted out into the cold, leaving my soul to shatter along with my entire existence._

"I didn't. She seemed serious and determined, so I did not go after her or say anything to make her stay."

Vixen sat back on her haunches, her ice-blue gaze intent on Esther's fox-red pelt, slightly dampened from the melting ice and dappled with frost. "Shame," she mewed simply after a moment of silence, "I would have thought - expected you, really - to go after her. She is, in fact, your mate."

At this Esther's tail lashed the air behind him. "She isn't my mate," he stated bluntly, and then, with the final shred of sadness in his heart that she had left him with, he said, "Not anymore. Not ever again."

His heart sank down to his paws in shame of himself. But he didn't feel the agony, the harmful aching the words should have caused him. Instead, he felt calm, revived from the brink of insanity...

"Perhaps Flora was nothing more than a dream."

He felt _stupid_.

Vixen's eyes grew wide at his statement, and her front paws twitched. "What? Esther, you can't be serious."

"But I am," Esther argued.

The black she-cat sighed, seeming disappointed. "Esther, you have to go after her. It's the only way you'll stop yourself."

"Stop myself from what?"

Vixen looked away as he asked that, her pelt bristling slightly.

"_Stop myself from what_?"

"From doing the same thing Rucka did, you idiot!" Vixen shouted, then recoiled, as if she had just cursed at him without meaning too. Her expression softened and so did her eyes as she said, "I don't need - _want _- another cat finding themselves at the bottom of that cliff the way we found Rucka. It's unbearable for the rest of us to see that happen to one so young. I don't need it happening to someone like you."

"I won't do that to you, Vixen. I can assure you that I'll be fine and that I'll come back."

That's what Esther should have said. He should have spoken those words as he rose to his paws and shook out his pelt, defragmenting the frost and collecting snow embedded on it. He should have told that to the elderly she-cat, to ease her worries for her entire group.

But instead of those words, he spoke these as he rose to his paws and made his way out of the den:

"I'm not going to find her. She can rot down in that cliffside for all I care."

* * *

_I'm falling. I'm falling. I'm falling. _

Her paws were failing in the air, her tail scattering snow as she dropped thirty some-odd feet to her apparent and planned death.

She didn't like this, not at all. She shouldn't have taken this way out. She could have just trotted down the cliffside - the safer, much more harmless way. But Flora had planned this - this was how she would die.

She plummeted, finally, into a large, cold sheet of snow. The icy tinge on her fur seeped into her bones, making her shiver and soaked through within several seconds of meeting the bottom of the cliff.

There was light seeping through the cat-shaped hole at the top of the snow bank - the expression her body had been making up until she fell through the heap of cold. Flora rolled lightly onto her belly and stood up, only to sink into the snow even further than she had been on her back. The cream and brown she-cat let out a growl and bunched up her haunches, and, after a moment of convincing herself that she could stick the landing, she jumped high into the air towards the light.

The snow above her was surprisingly hard - perfect for claws to sink into. It was almost like ice as Flora scrambled her way out of her hole, her pelt clinging to her frame and her legs shaking so wildly she was sure that she would fall down once she took a step.

_Stars above, I look like a wet rat!_

Flora could only hope there weren't any other cats around to see her like this.

She wasn't afraid anymore. She was free; free from the life up there, free from all the cats...

Free from Esther himself.

Flora's heart clenched at his name. Oh, his name; the one word she had said just before she fell down here - the one word that would stick to her mind like a wound no matter how much she wanted to forget or replace it.

She couldn't replace Esther. That was one fact she knew.

But she didn't want that life up there - she didn't like it. She liked it down here, in the cold freezing snow, where no one could judge her for her actions against the world.

Not that any cat up there had in the first place.

Shoving the thoughts in the back of her mind, Flora trudged her way through the snow - which just so happened to be all the way up to her belly fur. Growling as she walked, Flora managed to make it towards the treeline - and as she looked back, the mountains were slightly farther away.

_Goodbye, Vixen... Goodbye, Stripes... Goodbye, Esther. May the stars above light your paths._

And as she turned back to the trees and started walking, she left her heart back at the trees, for she knew that was where it belonged.

* * *

**So we say goodbye to Flora, and hello to a crazy, damned Esther. I LIKEY :D. **

**The next chapter should be up on Friday night - if not, expect Saturday morning/afternoon. It depends on what time I get done with my writing conference speeches I've got to plan this week XD. **

**Regards, and please review,**

**Hourglass -+-**


	10. Chapter 10

**Haha, fuck you, dumbass speech that I spend five hours writing when I didn't even have too XC. Damn you, writing confrence, damn you. **

**Anyways, here we are with the exciting tenth chapter of Timid Pastures! I've never been so in love with a FanFiction as I am with this one XD.**

**Let's get on with the show, eh? **

**Regards,**

**Hourglass -+-**

* * *

When Esther woke the next morning, his pelt was clumped with snow and his paws were numb.

_I hate snow, _the fox-red tom thought angrily as he lightly tested each numb-feeling paw on the cold stone floor. Once the tingling sensation, along with some sharp pains from sleeping on them tucked under his belly had faded, Esther rose to his full height and shook his pelt out, grateful for the snow to no longer be on his fur.

"Watch it, furball!" growled a voice, and Esther turned his head to find the sharp amber eyes of Hazard narrowed upon him. "We all have snow on our fur, and you shaking it all around isn't helping it get any warmer in here!"

Another pair of eyes - green - peeked out amongst the darkened cavern. Esther recalled the eyes of Branch, one of Fleck and Hazard's three kits; the black and brown dappled she-cat was only seven moonsets old, and her siblings Poppy and Dusk were larger than her. "I'm hungry," she mewed to her father, who was curled around Fleck in a protective ball.

"We're all hungry," murmured Hazard gently, touching his tail to Branch's shoulder and purring quietly to her. "It's not even dawn yet."

"Really?" Branch's green eyes were wide in awe at the mention of dawn. "I want to see it! Oh, please, can you make it come faster?"

Hazard's white fangs flashed in the moonlight that trickled through the wide cave as he smiled. "Unfortunately, I can't... But I'll wake you as soon as it comes."

"Promise?" Branch asked, her green eyes wide and sparking with hope.

Hazard purred and nuzzled his daughter. "Promise." he vowed, and now satisfied Branch curled back into a ball beside her siblings and fell back to sleep.

Esther himself couldn't stop and purr at the sweet and gentle side he had just witnessed of Hazard as he lay back down in his nest. Ever since he had arrived here, he had always thought of Hazard as a foul and calous cat; but now, seeing him with this attitude made Esther's assumption all wrong.

Hazard turned to him, flicking his tail. "What are you purring about over there?"

Esther smirked at Hazard's ill tone. "Nothing, just glad to be warm over here." He snuggled deeper into his bed as he said that for emphasis.

The pure black tom snorted and rolled his eyes. "Oh, I'm sure that's what you're purring about."

"Mhm." With that, Esther turned his back to Hazard, and hearing the black cat's deep breathing slowly grow into a ragged purr of sleep, he closed his eyes and prepared himself to be plagued by nightmares.

But tonight, as the moon was gleaming full and bright in the sky, Esther's nightmares weren't nightmares at all. They were peaceful, filled with tranquility and ease.

And as he padded through the gleaming forest before him, he was stopped by a flash of brown, cream and fox-red fur. Stalking forward, he spotted three she-cats, clearly only a moonset old by the looks of thier fluffy pelts. The kits turned to him, and with eyes full of excitement they squealed, "Daddy! You came!" and ran to him, burying their muzzles into his foreleg and purring loudly.

It took him a moment to get out of his shock state.

_They look just like Flora; same eyes, same cream and brown fur, only one having mine... Same beauty. This was what our kits would have looked like... This is what our family would have been... Oh, Flora, I'm sorry... I'm so, so sorry... _

_I should have never let you go._

* * *

_I should have never let you go._

The voice echoed through her ears, startling her awake. As if an unseen force had pushed her, Flora's body fell right into a deep ditch full of water. The coldness of it caused her to thrash in panic.

___I should have never let you go_.

Flora screamed at the voice and at a newfound feeling of illness throughout her body. It was a burning in her stomach, a numbness in her legs. Flora decided that flailing around on the ground wasn't giving her much avail in getting out of the ditch, so she dug her claws into the sides and heaved herself up, finally reaching the soft land with at least her decency left.

"You look like you went for a swim," snorted a dark gray she-cat with a tail just as soft yet fluffy as the rest of her. The other cats never commented or laughed about this aspect, for underneath the fur were sharp teeth and sharper claws one would never forget.

The other cat beside her, a golden and white speckled tom, lashed his tail as Flora sent the gray cat a sharp glare. "You're needed in the Head Master's den," he said bluntly, as if he had no other duty to give to her other than that.

Flora held back a groan. The Head Master, or Felix, was an annoying and quite tiny little cat. Though his claws were sharp and his fangs were almost always bare, the tom would chase a ball of yarn if it went whizzing past his range of sight. Felix was also quite the...creep. He would often look at other she-cat's bodies and tails, even though he had a mate that was always having kits one day or another. Somehow, Felix was - and always had been ever since she ran into this group of felines not even a night ago - attracted to her in the scariest way possible; apparently, the she-cat's Flora had gotten to know over the last twelve hours said that being doted upon by Felix was about the greatest thing in the world, and that if you were one that Felix found worthy, he would take you as his newest queen.

The thought sickened Flora, and she had spat at the she-cat's, saying that it was wrong for a tom to demise she-cat's in such a way. The others had waved their tails in Flora's face and trotted off, their heads bent in quiet conversation as they went in the other direction and away from her.

Needless to say, Flora was in a place full of sexually-frustrated she-cat's and under the control of one very pedophilic tom.

A prod in the side shook Flora out of her thoughts. She found none other than the 'glorious' Felix himself standing before her, his brown eyes on the brink of emotional downfall.

"Hello Flora," he greeted, seeming completely calm for the most part. Flora had to congratulate him on that aspect; Felix was almost never this casual or calm around her, so when he spoke with a cool tone in his voice the words hit Flora like a slap to the face.

"Head Master." Flora grunted, shuffling away from the tom in order to protect herself.

Nonetheless, and much to the cream and brown she-cat's annoyance, Felix decided against his better judgement to shuffle even _closer_. His eyes got warm and beaming with lust as he spoke, "Please, call me Felix," he said, a purr intermixing with the words. "We can be on a first-name basis, young Flora... No one has to know..."

She shuffled away. He shuffled closer.

Away. Closer

Away, away. Closer, _closer_.

"What do you want?!" Flora hissed, flattening her ears to her head.

Felix purred and touched his nose delicately against her temple, to which Flora hissed and drew away. "Until next time, my sweet..." he meowed, rose to his paws and padded off towards his mate. He sat down beside her and began to groom her pelt, all the while keeping his eyes on Flora.

Flora let out a snarl and padded back down into the sewer ditch, where her nest lay in a mess. She didn't bother to fix it; just plopped down and buried her face into her tail, shutting her eyes tightly and trying to forget everything that had just happened.

_Can this day get any worse?_

Esther's words rang in her mind all through the night:

_I should have never let you go... _

* * *

As the fox-red tom slept peacefully that night, he could have sworn he heard a reply. Faint, barely audible to the sleeping cats around him. Yet it about sent Esther off of his paws and clenched his heart until he died at the pain, the hurt and the desperation in the wind:

_I should have never left..._

* * *

**BAM! EXCELLENCE IS AMAZING!**

**:D **

**I'm really, really proud of this chapter! :) I hope you all like it!**

**Regards,**

**Hourglass -+-**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven… I can't believe we've made it this far ;-;… I swear if I'm able to make this story to eighteen chapters and with an epilogue, I'll be ecstatic. **

**And yes, in case you were wondering, there will be a sequel. I'm just not sure when. With Timid Pastures becoming not so popular in the FanFiction Arc for FFN, I'm quite concerned that the sequel will not get as much publicity as this one kind of has, or if it will at all. But nonetheless, I will be writing/planning a sequel as this story comes to an end, and the ending I think will be quite…concerning yet action-packed. **

**Hey, good news though! You all know that 'Leader-falling-in-lurve-with-another-leader' fanfiction I told you about earlier in this story? Well, after this is finished and I start planning the sequel's plotline, I may just post that so I'm not keeping you all waiting in suspense for the sequel to finally come out XD. **

**Without further ado, here is the next chapter. **

**Regards,**

**Hourglass -+-**

* * *

**ELEVEN:**

_"Don't you ever leave me. Don't you ever dare."_

Esther had no idea what had drawn him here, in the cold and darkness, staring down at the melting snow and the shreds of dead grass peeking from behind it. He had no idea why he came here, or why he would want to come here. It brought back memories of hurt, of pain . . . of merciless bloodshed that was still fresh on his mind to this day.

He stared down at the dead and rotted corpse of Dem. There was no more fur on his body; no more organs inside him, completely withered away, along with his eyes. They were now hollowed out holes in the front of his skull, thought flies and maggots had made nests inside them, creating a semi-eyeball look to match his decayed form.

He had killed this cat in the cold all those moons ago. He couldn't bring him back no matter how much he tried; it was the card the cat had played, and now Esther was here, begging for him to take his card back.

Esther sighed and hung his head in shame of himself. But he didn't stop staring; not for a moment.

"You came to visit him too?"

He didn't need to look up to see that cat. He knew that voice all too well. It was the voice of hurt; of sorrow; of regret.

And it was _her_.

"Yeah," he said, his head still down to his paws. He didn't want to look up, because he knew if he did, he would forgive her right on the spot, forget all the hurt she had put him through . . . if he looked up, all of it would melt away. And he really, truly didn't want that. "Yeah, I did."

"It's a shame he's gone," she mewed simply, emotion drained from her tone. "He would have brought us all greatness."

Esther swallowed, and, trying to keep his voice steady, he said, "I know. He would have helped us in times of need."

"But he died before he could. That is the saddest thing of all."

"He's been dead for a whole cycle now," came the voice of another; this one he knew just as well, but the voice did not have a special or significant role in his heart. The third cat was mainly a support group, one Esther could always rely on to listen to his troubles of the day.

"Shocking, really," came her reply, "I never expected him to depart from us so soon."

"He's missed deeply," the third cat meowed, "and he always will be. After all," he swallowed in an attempt to set his emotions in check, "he was my son."

She rested her tail on his shoulders, and Esther knew how badly he wanted to look up at her, to see her face once more.

"He died with honor," she mewed in his ear, shushing his cries of grief the way a mother would a newborn kitten. "and that honor can never be re-won by another cat."

Esther swallowed, and with a voice choking on tears, he said, "Why did it have to be this way?"

The question was rhetorical, not meant or seeking an answer. But yet, she answered him:

"Because you chose it too."

* * *

As night settled down upon them, neither moved. They sat there, allowing silence to overtake them, only the occassional bustling of wind stirring any sort of noise in the cool air. Other than that, it was completely silent.

"I'm sorry, Esther."

In the darkness, he could not see her. And so he raised his head to look at her, only seeing her eyes blinking every now and then in the harsh blackness.

He did not speak for quite a while. "What for?"

She inhaled, closed her eyes, and exhaled. "You know what," she meowed.

"For leaving."

Her eyes opened and settled on his own. "Yeah," she said, her voice cracking, "for leaving."

He blinked at her, his tail curling around his paws. "I almost went insane," anger was now rising in his chest, and he wanted her to know how much hurt she had caused him. And so he let it out: "You left me for a reason I'm sure you're going back on now. You don't know what I went through when you left. I went through so much . . . hurt, so much agony that I didn't even want to eat. I didn't want to leave my cave. I just wanted to hear your voice every day, to feel you curled up next to me at night - "

"I know," she murmured, interrupting him, "and - "

"Let me finish," he snarled, and she fell silent.

"I wanted you, and I missed you terribly. But what you did, what you put me through, will never be forgiven. You are a monster, and I can't imagine ever loving you as much as I did. I loved you with my entire being, and when you left . . . that broke it. And I can assure you that hole in my heart will never be healed."

Her eyes were wide and watering. She, his former love, was crying. "I - I'm so sorry, Esther," she pleaded, "I know I did wrong, a - and I know that I messed up big time... All I'm asking is that you take me back, please . . ."

And then, she said something that about stopped his heart.

"I should have never let you go."

He stared at her, heart ramming in his chest. "W - What did you just say?"

"I should have never let you go." she repeated, water spilling from her eyes and dribbling down her cheeks. "I - I heard you, in my dreams that night. You were there, Esther . . . I heard you."

"Impossible." his mouth was open in a silent gape, his ears pricked and alert for her to quote him again.

She took a step toward him, touched her nose to his and said, "Possible."

Rain fell on them that night; but neither moved. And when Esther woke up that next morning and found her sleeping beside him, he couldn't help but purr in delight.

Vixen had fell for him at last.

* * *

**HAHAHAH! I bet you all were expecting Flora, weren't you? :D **

**I'm cruel, I know... But hey, suspense builder, no? ;)**

**Regards,**

**Hourglass -+-**


End file.
